The sociocultural movement in psychology,the role of theories in sociocultural inquiries,and the theory of sociocultural models

This special issue presents the theory of sociocultural models (TSCM) and its applications in diverse areas of psychology, including education, health care, clinical practice, gender relations, and general research. As many theories already exist in the social sciences, some readers may ask: “Why do cross‐cultural, cultural, and indigenous psychologists need another theory?” This question is comprised of two aspects: culture/cultural and theory/theoretical. Therefore, to answer it, it is important to clarify both issues. The first relates to cultural and its relation to psychological. The second, theory, considers its relation to cultural and psychological. These issues have long‐range implications for all culture and psychology disciplines as they pose many questions: What role does culture play in the mental functioning of people? How is culture constituted? Is cultural related to social? Does people’s mental functioning exert reciprocal influences on their cultural and social functioning? While working toward answering these questions, researchers quickly determine that more questions arise: What role should theories play in answering these questions? What constitutes theory in culture and psychology disciplines? How should such a theory (or such theories) address the triad of cultural, social, and mental? Consequently, in an effort to provide an overview of the TSCM and to begin to answer these questions, this introduction consists of two parts. The first part addresses the sociocultural turn in modern psychology; this part discusses its implications for research in culture and psychology disciplines. The second segment examines the topic of the theoretical backgrounds of cultural and cross‐cultural research and connects the philosophical paradigms of interpretivism and realism with the theory of sociocultural models. This introduction concludes with a brief overview of the articles included in this issue.     

The influence of system transparency on trust: Evaluating interfaces in a highly automated vehicle

Previous studies indicate that, if an automated vehicle communicates its system status and intended behaviour, it could increase user trust and acceptance. However, it is still unclear what types of interfaces will better portray this type of information. The present study evaluated different configurations of screens comparing how they communicated the possible hazards in the environment (e.g. vulnerable road users), and vehicle behaviours (e.g. intended trajectory). These interfaces were presented in a fully automated vehicle tested by 25 participants in an indoor arena. Surveys and interviews measured trust, usability and experience after users were driven by an automated low-speed pod. Participants experienced four types of interfaces, from a simple journey tracker to a windscreen-wide augmented reality (AR) interface which overlays hazards highlighted in the environment and the trajectory of the vehicle. A combination of the survey and interview data showed a clear preference for the AR windscreen and an animated representation of the environment. The trust in the vehicle featuring these interfaces was significantly higher than pretrial measurements. However, some users questioned if they want to see this information all the time. One additional result was that some users felt motion sick when presented with the more engaging content. This paper provides recommendations for the design of interfaces with the potential to improve trust and user experience within highly automated vehicles.     

Socially emotional brain-inspired cognitive architecture framework for artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence of the next generation needs to interact with users socially, convincing them in its ability to understand human minds, including emotions. For this to happen, an artificial emotional intelligence is needed, capable of adequate, believable behavior in social emotional interactions. Building on previous developments, the present work extends the general framework of emotional Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architecture (eBICA: Samsonovich, 2013, 2018), endowing it with fluents describing, in addition to appraisals, somatic markers, feelings, emotions, moods, emotional reactions and biases. Key building blocks that integrate them are moral schemas and semantic maps. The model describes interaction of three factors: plans and commitments, moral and ethical values, and somatic comfort. Learning in this framework includes self-organization of semantic maps that in turn may provide guidance for active humanlike learning. Implications for empirical studies and practical applications are discussed together with the expected impact.     

Parents’ moral intentions towards antisocial parent behaviour: An identity approach in youth sport

ObjectivesGrounded in personal and social identity theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether parents’ personal and social identity perceptions influence their moral intentions towards antisocial parent behaviour in a youth sport setting.DesignParents of competitive youth ice hockey players (N = 437) read a vignette that either described a parent from the participant’s own team (i.e., ingroup), or a parent from an opposing team (i.e., outgroup) acting antisocially towards an athlete from the participant’s own team, an opposing athlete, or their own child. Parents were asked whether they would respond to the antisocial behaviour in the form of direct or indirect criticism or report the behaviour to the coach or to the league.ResultsParents were more likely to directly criticize ingroup parents than outgroup parents and they were more likely to indirectly criticize outgroup parents than ingroup parents. Further, parents with stronger social identities reported higher intentions to indirectly criticize an outgroup parent. There were no main effects for reporting behaviour (to coach or league), and personal identity did not moderate relationships with moral intentions towards antisocial behaviour.ConclusionBy providing parents with a situation that includes antisocial parent behaviour in the immediate youth sport environment, novel insight was gathered with regard to what contextual elements might drive parents’ intention to criticize, but not report antisocial behaviour.     

道德“沾光”效应：道德评价对道德自我知觉及道德行为的影响

人们喜欢关注道德事件并表达自己的立场。以往研究发现回忆自己(而非他人)的道德行为能影响个体的道德自我知觉和道德行为。本研究关注参与道德评价是否会对个体的道德自我和道德行为产生影响。2个研究共同发现：(1)存在道德“沾光”效应：评价支持他人的道德事件,或反对他人的不道德事件,能提升个体的道德自我知觉;(2)道德评价通过提升道德自我知觉,进一步增加个体的道德行为。     

人际关系和自我概念对生命意义的影响：一项追踪研究

对1087名大学生进行为期1年的追踪研究,考察人际关系和自我概念对生命意义的影响,以及自我概念在人际关系与生命意义间的中介效应。结果显示：(1)人际关系、自我概念和生命意义之间存在同时性和继时性正相关;(2)在时间点1和时间点2,人际关系、自我概念和生命意义均两两相互预测;(3)人际关系和自我影响均影响生命意义,以及在人际关系与生命意义的关系中,自我概念起部分中介作用。即人际关系通过自我概念进而影响生命意义体验。结果表明,可以通过改善人际关系和提高自我概念来提升个体的生命意义感。即带着一颗自我肯定之心,积极参与到社会互动中去。     

Treating a Chronically Depressed Adolescent Female Using the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy: A Case Study

A case is presented of an adolescent female with double depression who was treated using the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP). CBASP is designed to teach a social problem-solving procedure called Situational Analysis (SA). Generalized treatment effects were measured through monitoring of diagnostic status, two administrations of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent, weekly administrations of the Child Depression Inventory, and acquisition performance ratings on the SA task. The results showed that CBASP appeared to be an effective treatment. The double depressive disorder remitted, and the patient learned to identify behavioral consequences as well as target and attain her interpersonal goals. CBASP can be effective for adolescents, although modifications of the adult form of the therapy may be necessary.     

The Late Life Reconstruction of Selfhood Analyzed in Peter Hall's Film She's Been Away

The film She's Been Away tells the story of an old woman who had been locked in a mental asylum while a teenager, for willfully violating repressive sexual codes. Sixty years later her ward is closed and she moves in with her nephew and his wife. Faced with what appears to be a hopeless situation, she manages to forge a sense of a meaningful closure to a misspent life. Through narrative, story structure, and characterization the film throws into focus coping mechanisms and ego strategies deployed by a triple disadvantaged person (woman, old, and mad) in her ascent to a reconstructed selfhood. As the protagonist ties both ends of her life, and faces the abyss in between she makes genuine adaptive use of so-called regressive, late-life development assets (available to a lesser degree to elderly people in normal life circumstances), primarily the abolition of linear time. Through this abolition she makes reminiscing an actual reality while still maintaining a functional separation between the real and the remembered. Her portrayal is a valuable document for gerontologists as it explores, through artistic imagination and intuition, the workings of an aging mind in search for a meaningful sense of closure.     

Psychopathy in Children and Adolescents: The Need for a Developmental Perspective

The current paper introduces the special issue on research attempting to extend the construct of psychopathy to child and adolescent samples. Past special sections and reviews have typically focused on the implications of this research for forensic research and practice. The current special issue focuses on topics relevant for integrating this research within the broader literature on childhood psychopathology. Papers included in this special issue focus on the structure of psychopathic traits in youth, the relation of these traits to other important psychopathological and personality constructs in children and adolescents, and the utility of these traits for identifying a distinct subgroup of antisocial youth who differ on important cognitive processes and on the severity and stability of their problem behavior. These empirical works are followed by commentary provided by two prominent scholars who outline the potential importance of the construct for advancing our understanding of childhood psychopathology. In addition, these scholars provide a discussion of important directions for future research.